


Bitter

by i_am_forcibly_removed_from_ikea



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Book 2: Crooked Kingdom Spoilers, Coffee, Coffee Shops, Declarations Of Love, Denial of Feelings, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Is Alive, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Families of Choice, Grishaverse, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Inspired by Six of Crows, Jan Van Eck Bashing, Ketterdam, M/M, My First Fanfic, Nobody is Dead, Relationship(s), Slow To Update, The Author Regrets Nothing, i wrote this instead of doing homework, no i have not figured out how yet, pekka rollins is a clown, self-insert cameo? more likely than you would think, the dregs haha get it, wylan still can't read LMAO idk how that's gonna work while taking orders, yes kuwei will still be annoying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:41:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27517039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_am_forcibly_removed_from_ikea/pseuds/i_am_forcibly_removed_from_ikea
Summary: Kaz Brekker has saved and saved, and now owns The Dregs, one of the most successful coffee shops in Ketterdam. Things are going well until they hire a new employee: Matthias Helvar, previously employed at the Icy Cup. The Dregs and the Icy Cup become fierce competitors, but the employees of The Dregs sense something is up with their fellow coffee shop...
Relationships: Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Bitter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introductions. Point of View: Kaz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is my first fanfic ever, so I'm still working things out a bit. I'll be updating this inconsistently because school is wack and as much as I hate it, I still have to get good grades. As you could probably tell, this is a coffee shop AU fic of the Six of Crows duology...and I have never had a cup of coffee in my life 0.0
> 
> let's see where this goes!

The wind blew cold through the streets of Ketterdam today. It was the kind of wind that bit your nose and tickled your hands as you walked through the streets, clutching your coat close as if the zipper was broken.

Kaz smiled as he walked. Cold days were good for business at The Dregs.

Kaz Brekker had started The Dregs about four months ago. Just west of the Financial District, The Dregs sat right in between two canals in the Barrel. Kaz's bad leg would start to send bolts of pain up his side if he exerted himself too much, so he purposefully bought the property just a few blocks away from his apartment at the Slat. He didn't mind the walk. It brought him a little peace of mind before his bustling coffee shop shift. As Kaz looked up at the tiny flakes of snow falling down onto the city, he thought about what today might bring.

After serving the morning regulars, there was usually more a quiet atmosphere for an hour or two until those with more flexible hours (or god forbid, pigeons or overzealous tourists) came looking for something warm to drink. On cold days, these quiet moments were hard to come by. He didn't mind. As long as he had one or two of his employees with him, the rush was much more bearable. And frankly, though he would never admit it, more enjoyable. Deep down underneath his outer shell of "professional-ness" he needed to don as the owner of The Dregs, Kaz was grateful for the friends he had made here in the past four months. They were heavenly compared to his roommates at the Slat, and they never bothered him the way Per Haskell did. 

_Saints_ , he thought. He really needed to move.

As he rounded the last corner of his daily commute, he found himself lost in thought, thinking through his usual fantasy. An apartment above The Dregs would open up somehow, and he would buy himself his own studio apartment. No roommates, no unnecessary noise, no freezing morning walks to work. Even if the apartments above the cafe were expensive. Even if he still had a long way to go, money-wise. Even if he still needed to pay off his loan for the cafe.

Even if he _maybe_ wanted to live with somebody.

"Kaz!" Inej exclaimed, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Nina asked me to cover for her today. She's sick and needs some time off."

"That's fine", Kaz said calmly. In truth, he was excited. Inej was one of his favorite co-workers.

He would never tell her that though.

Inej was one of his first employees. They had gone through the rocky start any small business experiences together, and it had been a valuable learning experience, if not enjoyable. The initial long periods they had had without customers had given them a lot of time to learn about each other, even if Kaz could tell she wasn't opening up all the way. He couldn't blame her, he was doing so even less. Still, they had found their rhythm. If The Dregs was a ship, she would be the first mate.

"Anyways, I had another idea for the shop," Inej said. She always had ideas for the shop, whether it was a fix to a problem or a new daily special.

"What if we installed a little shelf for pastries? Nina says she knows somebody we could hire to make them. He's looking for work and this could be a great opportunity for The Dregs."

Kaz took a moment to think about it. Nina's ideas were usually...well, out there...but he had to admit, this could bring in more customers. And if Kaz wanted his own apartment he could really use the extra funds.

"Who's this baker Nina suggested?" Kaz asked. 

"Some guy named Matthias Helvar. Apparently, they met a long time ago in Fjerda, and he just moved to Ketterdam a month or two ago. She says he's a wonderful baker!" Inej explained.

"I'll think it over."

Inej turned back to cleaning the counter just as the first customer walked in. Kaz took their order and worked in silence, lost in thought once again. He handed the customer their drink, they thanked him, and he watched as they went through the doorway at the back of the cafe. The doorway that led to the apartment stairs.

"What do you think it would be like to live up there?" he thought out loud. Usually, he wouldn't talk this much at work about anything besides business, but with Inej it was different.

"I think it would be boring. I'd rather live on a boat," she replied.

The door chimed before Kaz could respond, and they quickly settled back into their usual rhythm. The day went by just like that, Kaz and Inej pondering different things in between customer waves, and their more silent moments were never uncomfortable. That's just how he and Inej were. Sometimes he felt that they could be friends outside of work, but he never figured out a way to ask without it seeming weird. The boss of a business having a close friendship with one of their employees, especially a woman with more influence within the business? That didn't really seem right to him. It didn't stop him from enjoying their shifts together though.

As the sun set from outside the cafe windows, tinting the cafe gold, Kaz thought over the bakery idea again. Nina and Inej were right. Adding small pastries to their inventory would definitely attract customers and earn more, even if he would have to hire another person. As he and Inej closed the shop down after a rather good day, he ran over all the logistics of this new idea in his head. He smiled.

"Inej?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell Nina that her Helvar guy's got himself an interview here next week at sunset."

Inej beamed at him, then turned around and disappeared into the snowy city night.

 _This was a good day_ , Kaz thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of the first chapter!! I kinda just wrote this all at once, and I hope I captured Kaz's character at least a little bit. He's not doing anything illegal (yet), so I thought maybe his scheming/planning could go in a different direction??? If anyone sees this (ha) and has any feedback, I would love it if they let me know!


End file.
